Stardew Valley Mystery Boxes Guide

Master Qi’s been busy. In Patch 1.6 of Stardew Valley, he eventually gets around to scattering a new item across Pelican Town and points beyond. Here’s all we’ve figured out so far about the new Mystery Box item in Stardew Valley’s latest major update.

What’s In the Box? Mystery Boxes in Stardew Valley Patch 1.6

At time of writing, Mystery Boxes were unlocked for me on two separate games. In both cases, their arrival was triggered after I’d gone to bed in early Winter, although I’ve seen reports that Qi might also show up in Spring or Summer.

Whenever it happens, Qi will airdrop a slew of Mystery Boxes into Pelican Town. This triggers their potential appearance as a drop from a variety of activities throughout Stardew Valley.

In order to open a Mystery Box, you have to take them to Clint the blacksmith in Pelican Town. Like Geodes, Clint will crack them open for 25g each, which awards you their contents on the spot.

You can’t open Mystery Boxes with a Geode Crusher, which suggests Qi might be getting some kickbacks from Clint on this one. Honestly, I'm not even mad.

Where to Find Mystery Boxes

Here’s where we’ve found Mystery Boxes so far. Like a lot of things about Patch 1.6, this may be an incomplete list, so we’ll update this article accordingly as we continue to explore the game.

• Digging up worms/stems
• Inside fishing treasure chests
• Dropped by defeated monsters in the Mines or Skull Cavern
• Found as a rare drop when cutting down full-grown trees
• Inside the ticket redemption machine in Mayor Lewis’s house
• One of the prizes at the Trout Derby
• One of the random prizes on both days of SquidFest
• Sold by the special merchant at the Desert Festival in Summer for 20 Calico Eggs each

It's unknown if, but would stand to reason that, the actual drop rate on Mystery Boxes is determined by the player's current luck. For new players, luck is an invisible stat that broadly influences most of the random events in Stardew Valley. This includes what you get when you pan for ore, special drops from animals like Duck Feathers, the chance you get anything other than Trash from garbage cans, and a couple of dozen other things.

Be sure to check the Fortune Teller program on your TV every morning. If they say your luck is good, that's a handy excuse to hit the Mines, go fishing, or go looking for random spots to dig. Luck can also be influenced by items like the Special Charm; food like Lucky Lunch or Fried Eel; or wearing a Lucky Ring.

Anecdotally, the Mystery Boxes do seem to be feast or famine. I got 12 of them in a hurry over the course of my first Winter post-patch, but only 1's appeared since I got into Spring. Of course, that could just be RNG doing its thing.

What’s Inside Mystery Boxes?

The most common things to get out of a Mystery Box appear to be advanced fertilizers, but I’ve also received crafting materials, rings, food, and seeds. They're full of primarily useful gear and seem to be balanced around the expectation that you're around the end of Year 1. If you're a long-time Stardew farmer, then Mystery Boxes are a nice-to-have at best, but a couple of lucky Box drops can be a real game-changer for a new player or fresh run.

The contents of a Mystery Box appear to be generated on pickup, as opposed to when you open them. If you have Clint open a Mystery Box, then quit, reload your save, and have him do it again, you should get the same items every time.

Here’s some of what we’ve seen in our Mystery Boxes so far:

Books

• Book of Mysteries
• Mining Monthly

Equipment

• Amethyst Ring
• Aquamarine Ring
• Jade Ring
• Ossified Blade
• Ruby Ring
• Sturdy Ring
• Warp Totem: Beach
• Warp Totem: Farm

Fertilizer

• Deluxe Speed-Gro
• Quality Fertilizer

Food

• Baked Fish
• Chowder
• Coffee
• Escargot
• Fish Stew
• Ice Cream
• Lobster Bisque
• Lucky Lunch
• Maple Bar
• Maki Roll
• Omelet
• Rice Pudding
• Salad
• Shrimp Cocktail
• Spaghetti
• Stuffing
• Super Meal
• Vegetable Medley

Materials

• Hardwood
• Iron Ore
• Stone

Seeds

• Bean Starter
• Mixed Flower Seeds
• Mixed Seeds
• Orange Sapling
• Parsnip Seeds
• Pepper Seeds
• Radish Seeds
• Wheat Seeds

Other Items

• Mystery Box (yes, you can open a Mystery Box and get more Mystery Boxes)
• Treasure Chest

If you’re looking to fill up the new Powers menu from Patch 1.6, the Book of Mysteries currently appears to be a unique drop from Mystery Boxes.

Once you've achieved Foraging Mastery, you can also find Golden Mystery Boxes from the same sources as the normal-quality version, at a significantly lower drop rate. The Golden Mystery Boxes contain many of the same items, but may also yield Saplings, rare treasures like Pearls, a Quality Sprinkler, or as of patch 1.6.4, the Auto-Petter gadget.

That’s about all we know on Mystery Boxes at time of writing. As we continue to dig into Patch 1.6, we’ll continue to update this article with more information.